Around 50 people who were detained because of the Gezi park protests in Istanbul began a hunger strike on Wednesday, as prosecutors extended their detention period and the death toll from the Gezi Park incidents rose to five, Turkish media reported.

The move by prosecutors was met with strong public reaction, with
the Taksim Solidarity Platform and other human rights
organizations and unions calling for the detainees’ immediate
release, Radikal, a Turkish daily, reported.

The Taksim Solidarity Platform is made up of over 100
nongovernmental organizations.

On July 8, police detained seven members of the Taksim Solidarity
Platform, which is made up of over 100 nongovernmental
organizations . Mucella Yapici, who had recently
taken part in a delegation which met Prime Minister Erdogan, was
among those arrested. Yapici’s residence was also searched by the
police. Houses belonging to eight other people with links to the
organization were searched, as well.

The Human Rights Association (IHD) called on officials to release
members who “were detained while exercising their right to
demonstrate.”

“The police are trying to intimidate people by detaining
Solidarity Platform members. Even the detentions have not
sufficed; the police have conducted lengthy searches at the
houses of those who were detained,” the IHD said in a
statement.

The head of the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions (DISK),
Kani Beko, also spoke out against the detentions, calling them
“unlawful” and “unfair.”

“Be it through detentions, arrests or the searches, or the
attitude towards organizations like the Chamber of Architects and
Engineers (TMMOB), the unlawfulness and unfairness of the ruling
Justice and Development Party (AKP) government [has been
shown],” Beko said.

The death toll from the Taksim protests rose to five people on
Wednesday.

Nineteen-year-old Ali Ismail Korkmaz died at the Osmangazi
University Hospital in Eskisehir, having suffered a brain
hemorrhage. He had been attacked by a group of people as he was
fleeing police at the Gezi Park demonstrations on June 2.

The Gezi Park protests mushroomed after police violently
disrupted a peaceful sit-in by environmentalists who objected
plans to turn central Istanbul’s last green space into an Ottoman
era army barracks and a shopping mall.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s AK party moved to curb the power
of the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects
(TMMOB), which was heavily involved in the anti-government
protests. The action sparked allegations that Erdogan is waging a
vendetta against protesters.

Under the government-sponsored bill, the TMMOB- which represents
400,000 professionals - will lose its ability to grant final
planning approval to urban planning projects.

An Istanbul court has cancelled Erdogan’s redevelopment project,
but authorities can appeal against the ruling.

The protests spread to dozens of cities across the country as
people voiced their anger at what they see